News and Politics

Of Violence, Migration, and the Nicaragua Exception

By Scott Morgenstern
October 13, 2016

The US immigration crisis is the result of a violence crisis in Central America.  But the violence has not reached all parts of Central America, and thus the migrants are primarily coming from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. In these countries, a LAPOP study[1] (using UN data) shows murder rates much higher than in the rest of the region and in Honduras that rate has reached almost 10 times that of Panama, Costa Rica, and most surprisingly, Nicaragua. What explains the Nicaraguan exception?

Actualización Brasileña: Después de la Copa Mundial, Mirando Hacia las Elecciones en Octubre

By Danielle Scalise
October 13, 2016

Con la partida de los espectadores de la Copa, Brasil vuelva a la normalidad, libre de las distracciones la ola de nacionalismo producidos por el fútbol. Las elecciones presidenciales de Octubre se acercan, y la presidenta Dilma Rousseff deberá superar varios obstáculos en su búsqueda de la reelección. Por debajo de la emoción de la Copa, una serie de cuestiones sociales, económicas e internacionales nunca dejaron de agitarse.

Malestar Social

New Americas Barometer Insight: The World Cup and Protests: What Ails Brazil?

By LAPOP - Americas Barometer
October 13, 2016

Results from preliminary pre-release 2014 AmericasBarometer survey data from Brazil indicate that the protests ongoing in the country since last year are driven largely by young, single, educated Brazilians, with widespread corruption and violence, and low quality education and healthcare at the top of their list of grievances. Thus, international sporting events like the World Cup have both exacerbated perceptions of systemic corruption among Brazilians and also provided a useful high-profile stage for protesters to voice their discontent.

Argentine Debt Mediation Continues

By Danielle Scalise
October 13, 2016

As the deadline of June 30th came and went, Argentina attempted to make $832USD million in payments to restructured hedge funds, but was forced to take the money back by Judge Thomas Griesa who ordered the original debt ruling back in June.1 The New York Courts demanded BNY Mellon give back the $539 million it received from Argentina, deeming the payment in violation of the equal payment clause. Griesa decided that Argentina must make payments to both the restructured hedge funds and the holdouts or service neither.

Until the Expressway Collapses

By Heloisa Pait
October 13, 2016

There is no way to predict how a nation will deal with past collective actions that don’t match the image its citizens now have of themselves. They may confront the regretted event right after it ended or generations later. They may accuse or mourn. They may seek revenge or remembrance. They may want to profit from the examination or simply learn from it. A nation may decide to forget or indefinitely postpone looking at its painful past.

Disintegration of Political Obstacles Leading to a Lift of the Cuban Embargo

By Danielle Scalise
October 13, 2016

The US-Cuba embargo, installed in the early 1960s, has been in place for over 50 years. Its ultimate goal of destroying Fidel Castro’s reign has not been accomplished, and its  motivation, fear of a worldwide expansion of communism and a Soviet-aided Cuban military attack on the US have diminished. As Castro passes, the major source of US/Cuban political obstruction will, too. In terms of the US ending the embargo, we can ask ourselves, what are we waiting for?

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